2. Ja Morant dunks went viral in the All-Star Game
While Morant had a less than stellar boxscore in the game, he did manage to dazzle the crowd and the internet with some spectacular dunks.
Morant finished the game with just 6 points and 3 assists in 17 minutes for Team Durant. However, those six points all came on crowd-pleasing slam dunks.
One dunk in particular already had more than half-a-million views on Twitter in the hours after the conclusion of the All-Star Game.
Stop it, @JaMorant pic.twitter.com/ddFsklYXju
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 21, 2022
Morant had another dunk, earlier in the game, that was the first real highlight of the entire game. It got the fans excited and people talking about the excitement Morant brings to the game.
Ja Morant putting on a show for The Land 🙌
— Beale Street Bears (@BealeStBearsFS) February 21, 2022
(🎥 via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/irUWPqKnhx
Well respected NBA veteran Jamal Crawford tweeted that Morant’s in-game dunks would have won him the 2022 Slam Dunk Contest.
1. Desmond Bane had a huge night at the NBA Rising Stars event
The second-year player out of TCU was able to help his team seal a victory in Game 1 of the new format Rookie/Sophomore game.
Bane was able to knock down some free throws that gave his team the edge and the right to advance to a “championship” game against Team Barry.
Bane was able to compete in two games and finished with 10 points and 2 assists in Game 1 and 3 points and 1 assist in the championship game.
Bane and Rising Stars teammate Tyrese Haliburton teamed up to compete and win the innagural Clutch Challenge. It saw four teams of two recreate five iconic shots as quickly as possible.
The two young players made the shots in 39.1 seconds, finished around 10 seconds faster than the next closest team to take home the trophy.